The present invention relates generally to a drinking game similar to beer pong and more particularly, toward a drinking game that incorporates some of the elements of beer pong with elements of the game of basketball.
The traditional game of “Beer Pong” (also known as “Beirut”) is an immensely popular beer drinking game played throughout the United States. It is regularly played on university and college campuses, at beach house parties and other festive occasions at which alcoholic beverages, such as beer, are present. Such festive occasions are typically attended by students in their twenties. The rules and playing styles of beer pong are fairly consistent throughout the country. Generally, two or four individuals participate at one time. These individuals are typically divided into two opposing teams. Each team arranges ten to twenty cups in the shape of a pyramid near the end of a table.
The arrangement of cups at the beginning of the game should resemble the initial rack of pool balls in a game of “eight-ball.” Each team thereafter fills each cup with a preselected amount of beer. Filling is continued until each cup is about one-quarter to about one-half full. The players then take turns tossing or bouncing ping pong balls across the length of a table. An object of the game is to cause a beer pong ball to land in an opponent's cup. If a player's opponent succeeds in “making a shot,” that player must drink the cup into which the beer pong ball landed. The empty cup is then removed from the table. A team that successfully eliminates each of the opponent's cups first is the victor. When this occurs, the losing team must “down” the entire contents of the winning team's remaining filled cups.
Attempts have been made to standardize the set-up of the cups into which the ping pong ball is tossed. U.S. Patent Application No. 2005/0029747, filed by Finley et al., discloses a triangular holder, similar to a pool ball rack, for aligning the target cups at each end of the table. The holder includes ten circular cut-outs arranged in a triangular formation similar to a bowling-pin or billiard-ball arrangement. The holder is placed on a table and a cup is inserted into each cut-out.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,325,807 to Eason improves upon the Finley et al. device by incorporating the cup-holding surface into the table such that all of the cup holders are integral parts of the table and cannot get lost, misplaced or broken. Furthermore, U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/01888942 to Troken elaborates on the same theme by providing standardized ping pong balls that may contain one or more “messages” or instructions to the players upon making a successful beer pong shot (e.g., EXCHANGE an article of clothing; reveal a SECRET; reveal a FANTASY; REMOVE an article of clothing, etc.).
The Internet Publication entitled “Beer Pong Rules” at http://www.gotponq.com/beerponq/rules/ discloses rules for a conventional beer pong game. A plurality of cups containing one or more alcoholic beverages is arranged in 3-2-1 pyramidal fashion. Two players toss ping pong balls, attempting to direct the balls into one of the cups. Ping pong balls may be tossed directly or bounced on a substrate. If a ball touches a cup, it is considered “sunk,” whereupon the cup contents must be consumed by the opposing team. “Scaling” occurs when a ball is tossed with the intention of knocking over a cup. In the event of scaling, the team whose player threw the ball is penalized by one cup. If, during game play, one team retains four cups while the other team's cup count reaches two, the losing team is “skunked” and must consume all six of the cups. The “Beer Pong Rules” publication discloses conventional rules for a beer pong game. As described therein, a conventional beer pong game requires the use of alcoholic beverages.
The Internet Publication entitled “Rules Without Paddles—National Beer Pong League” at http://www.nbpl.net/rulesno.html discloses 14 variations of the conventional beer pong game. The “Rules Without Paddles” publication describes variations of the beer pong game conventionally played throughout the United States at different localities. Each of the variations requires use of alcoholic beverages.
The Internet Publication “Neave's Beer,” as described by the BP website located at http://www.neave.com/beer/yourgames/beirut.html, discloses a conventional beer pong game variant wherein a coin is tossed into a plurality of beer cups instead of a ping pong ball. Each of the beer cups into which the coin is tossed contains beer or a similar alcoholic beverage.
The Internet Publication “Beirut Instructor,” as described by a website located at http://h0020e0642dd9.ne.client2.attbi.com/, describes yet another variation of the beer pong game. Two sets, each containing six twelve-ounce cups, are arranged in a rack to form a pyramid. Two twelve-ounce beers are dispersed among the cups in each rack. Each team has two players, one of which is assigned to a rack. Teams take turns throwing a ping pong ball into the opposing team's cups. If a ball lands in a cup, it is removed from the rack. The first team to knock out all of the opposing team's cups is the winner. An alcoholic beverage, preferably beer, is required, together with ping pong balls, which are tossed by the players to eliminate cups belonging to the opposing team.
The Internet Publication entitled “Column: Playing The Name Game With A Party Classic,” located at http://www.nbpl.net/dailyorange.html, addresses an issue frequently discussed on college campuses, namely, whether the correct title for the most popular drinking game is “Beirut” or “Beer Pong.” The Daily Orange publication attempts to define the difference between beer pong and Beirut. It concludes that beer pong refers to any variation of the game that uses paddles to hit the ball in the cup, while in Beirut the ball is thrown by hand. This distinction is based on a quote from Jason Keith, head of the National Beer Pong League. According to Jason Keith, “The difference between Beer Pong and Beirut is that Beer Pong refers to any variation of the game that uses paddles to hit the ball into a cup, while in Beirut, the ball is thrown by hand.” Significantly, each of the Beirut and beer pong games defined by the “Name Game” publication requires use of alcoholic beverages.
The Internet Publication entitled “BP—the game—Our Rules” located at http://home.earthlink.net/2BP/pages/bprules.html discloses rules for a conventional beer pong game. A plurality of cups (typically three) containing one or more alcoholic beverages are arranged on a regulation 9×5 foot ping pong table on opposing sides of a 6-inch high ping pong net. A center cup is placed directly on the centerline of the table, two paddle lengths from the end line. The two outside cups are placed on either sideline in similar fashion. Two players toss ping pong balls attempting to direct the balls into one of the cups. Ping pong balls may be tossed directly or bounced on a substrate. If a ball touches a cup, it is considered ‘sunk’ whereupon the cup contents must be consumed by the opposing team. “Scaling” occurs when a ball is tossed with the intention of knocking over a cup. In the event of scaling, the team whose player threw the ball is penalized by one cup. If, during game play, one team retains four cups while the other team's cup count reaches two, the losing team is “skunked” and must consume all six of the cups. As described therein, the BP Rules variant requires use of alcoholic beverages.
In a separate line of games and game devices are apparatuses for playing miniaturized, indoor variants of the game of basketball. Such devices and game variants involve one or more basketball-style baskets and game play involving a miniature “basketball” such as a ping pong ball. Such references, however, do not contain teachings to combine the game of basketball (or miniaturizations thereof) with any known drinking games, whether beer pong or otherwise. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,855 to Chu discloses a basketball game including a stand bearing a backboard, a net and a catapult for shooting a ping pong-sized ball and is operated by hand. U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,056 to Nutting provides a simulated basketball game including a playing surface having baskets at its opposite ends and defining a plurality of interconnected ball-propelling paddles controlled by a user via a fluid pressure cylinder mechanism connected to a plurality of levers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,150,898 to Hochberg et al. teaches a game apparatus including a projectile propeller mounted on the forward end portion of a housing and includes a target, such as a miniature basketball basket, mounted to translate forwardly and rearwardly with respect to the projectile propeller adjacent a rearward end portion of the housing and where the projectile propeller is operable to propel a game projectile, such as a ping pong ball, towards the target with a varying trajectory relative to the translational position of the target.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,328 to Meintzer et al. discloses a tabletop basketball game comprised of a flat, rectangular game board having standard basketball markings imprinted thereon. Four upstanding walls are positioned about the periphery of the game board in continuous relation to one another and with miniature basketball nets attached to two such walls opposite one another wherein contestants attempt to bounce a miniature-sized basketball, such as a ping pong ball, into one of the nets. U.S. Pat. No. 3,703,291 to Lutz claims a miniature basketball game apparatus including a flat base centrally slotted at one edge for receipt of a post supported on a thin foot for insertion beneath the slotted base and, in turn, supporting a backboard and net.
None of the drinking game references teach the inclusion of basketball elements, even though basketball variants are widely recognized as party novelty games, and none of the novelty basketball references teach the inclusion of beer pong elements, even though beer pong is rapidly growing in popularity as a party novelty game. What is needed then is an apparatus and game-play method that introduces elements of the game of basketball into the realm of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinking games.